Reference: Dragon
American
Answers, in the English Bible, the Hebrew word signifying a sea-monster, huge serpent, etc. Thus in De 32:33; Jer 51:34; Re 12, it evidently implies a huge serpent; in Isa 27:1; 51:9; Eze 29:3, it may mean the crocodile, or any large sea-monster; while in Job 30:29; La 4:3; Mic 1:8, it seems to refer to some wild animal of the desert, most probably the jackal. The animal known to modern naturalists under the name of dragon, is a harmless species of lizard, found in Asia and Africa.
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In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall visit punishment upon leviathan the fleeing serpent, and upon leviathan that serpent of double vision; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.
Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD; awake, as in the ancient days, in ages past. Art thou not he who cut off the proud one, and he who smote the dragon?
Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me; he has crushed me; he has made me an empty vessel, he has swallowed me up like a dragon; he has filled his belly with my delicates; he has cast me out.
Gimel Even the sea monsters draw out the breast; they give suck to their young ones; the daughter of my people is cruel like the ostriches in the wilderness.
Speak and say, Thus hath the Lord GOD said: Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lies in the midst of his rivers, who has said, My river is my own, and I have made it for myself.
Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked: I will make a wailing like the dragons and mourning as the owls.
Easton
(1.) Heb tannim, plural of tan. The name of some unknown creature inhabiting desert places and ruins (Job 30:29; Ps 44:19; Isa 13:22; 34:13; 43:20; Jer 10:22; Mic 1:8; Mal 1:3); probably, as translated in the Revised Version, the jackal (q.v.).
(2.) Heb tannin. Some great sea monster (Jer 51:34 it may denote the crocodile. In Ge 1:21 (Heb plural tanninim) the Authorized Version renders "whales," and the Revised Version "sea monsters." It is rendered "serpent" in Ex 7:9. It is used figuratively in Ps 74:13; Eze 29:3.
In the New Testament the word "dragon" is found only in Re 12:3-4,7,9,16-17, etc., and is there used metaphorically of "Satan." (See Whale.)
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And God created the great dragons and every living soul that moves, which the waters brought forth abundantly after their nature, and every winged fowl after its nature; and God saw that it was good.
If Pharaoh shall answer you, saying, Show a miracle, then thou shalt say unto Aaron, Take thy rod and cast it before Pharaoh, that it shall become a dragon.
though thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons and covered us with the shadow of death.
Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength; thou didst break the heads of the dragons in the waters.
And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their palaces, and dragons in their pleasant palaces; and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.
And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof; and it shall be a habitation of dragons and a court for young owls.
The beast of the field shall honour me, the dragons and the owls because I give waters in the wilderness and rivers in the desert to give drink to my people, my chosen.
Behold, the voice of the rumour is come, and a great commotion out of the land of the north wind to make the cities of Judah desolate and a den of dragons.
Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me; he has crushed me; he has made me an empty vessel, he has swallowed me up like a dragon; he has filled his belly with my delicates; he has cast me out.
Speak and say, Thus hath the Lord GOD said: Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lies in the midst of his rivers, who has said, My river is my own, and I have made it for myself.
Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked: I will make a wailing like the dragons and mourning as the owls.
and I rejected Esau and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.
And there appeared another sign in the heaven; and, behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth; and the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to be delivered, to devour her child as soon as it was born.
And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,
And the great dragon was cast out, the serpent of old, who is called Devil and the Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed up the river which the dragon had cast out of his mouth. And the dragon was wroth with the woman and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Fausets
Tannin, tan. Tan in Jer 14:6, "dragons" "snuffing up the wind" is translated by Henderson jackals; rather the great boas and python serpents are meant, which raise their body vertically ten or twelve feet high, surveying the neighborhood above the bushes, while with open jaws they drink in the air. They were made types of the deluge and all destructive agencies; hence the dragon temples are placed near water in Asia, Africa, and Britain, e.g. that of Abury in Wiltshire. The ark is often associated with it, as the preserver from the waters. The dragon temples are serpentine in form; dragon standards were used in Egypt and Babylon, and among the widely-scattered Celts.
Apollo's slaying Python is the Greek legend implying the triumph of light over darkness and evil. The tannin are any great monsters, whether of land or sea, trans. Ge 1:21 "great sea monsters." So (La 4:3) "even sea monsters (tannin) draw out the breast," alluding to the mammalia which sometimes visit the Mediterranean, or the halichore cow whale of the Red Sea. Large whales do not often frequent the Mediterranean, which was the sea that the Israelites knew; they apply "sea" to the Nile and Euphrates, and so apply "tannin" to the crocodile, their horror in Egypt, as also to the large serpents which they saw in the desert. "The dragon in the sea," which Jehovah shall punish in the day of Israel's deliverance, is Antichrist, the antitype to Babylon on the Euphrates' waters (Isa 27:1).
In Ps 74:13, "Thou brokest the heads of the dragons in the waters," Egypt's princes and Pharaoh are poetically represented hereby, just as crocodiles are the monarchs of the Nile waters. So (Isa 51:9-10) the crocodile is the emblem of Egypt and its king on coins of Augustus struck after the conquest of Egypt. "A habitation of dragons" expresses utter desolation, as venomous snakes abound in ruins of ancient cities (De 32:33; Jer 49:33; Isa 34:13). In the New Testament it symbolizes Satan the old serpent (Genesis 3), combining gigantic strength with craft, malignity, and venom (Re 12:3). The dragon's color, "red," fiery red, implies that he was a murderer from the beginning.
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And God created the great dragons and every living soul that moves, which the waters brought forth abundantly after their nature, and every winged fowl after its nature; and God saw that it was good.
Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength; thou didst break the heads of the dragons in the waters.
In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall visit punishment upon leviathan the fleeing serpent, and upon leviathan that serpent of double vision; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.
And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof; and it shall be a habitation of dragons and a court for young owls.
Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD; awake, as in the ancient days, in ages past. Art thou not he who cut off the proud one, and he who smote the dragon? Art thou not he who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep; he who turned the depths of the sea into a way, that the redeemed might pass over?
And the wild asses stood in the high places, they snuffed up the wind like dragons; their eyes failed because there was no grass.
And Hazor shall be a dwelling for dragons and a desolation for ever: no man shall abide there, nor any son of man dwell in it.
Gimel Even the sea monsters draw out the breast; they give suck to their young ones; the daughter of my people is cruel like the ostriches in the wilderness.
And there appeared another sign in the heaven; and, behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.
Hastings
(1) tann
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And God created the great dragons and every living soul that moves, which the waters brought forth abundantly after their nature, and every winged fowl after its nature; and God saw that it was good.
If Pharaoh shall answer you, saying, Show a miracle, then thou shalt say unto Aaron, Take thy rod and cast it before Pharaoh, that it shall become a dragon. So Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and they did as the LORD had commanded; and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and before his slaves, and it became a dragon. read more. Then Pharaoh also called wise men and sorcerers; now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their fire worship. For each one cast down his rod, and they became dragons; but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods.
Am I a sea, or a dragon, that thou settest a watch over me?
though thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons and covered us with the shadow of death.
Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength; thou didst break the heads of the dragons in the waters.
And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their palaces, and dragons in their pleasant palaces; and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.
And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof; and it shall be a habitation of dragons and a court for young owls.
The parched ground shall become a pool and the thirsty land springs of water; in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes.
Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD; awake, as in the ancient days, in ages past. Art thou not he who cut off the proud one, and he who smote the dragon?
Behold, the voice of the rumour is come, and a great commotion out of the land of the north wind to make the cities of Judah desolate and a den of dragons.
And Hazor shall be a dwelling for dragons and a desolation for ever: no man shall abide there, nor any son of man dwell in it.
Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me; he has crushed me; he has made me an empty vessel, he has swallowed me up like a dragon; he has filled his belly with my delicates; he has cast me out.
Speak and say, Thus hath the Lord GOD said: Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lies in the midst of his rivers, who has said, My river is my own, and I have made it for myself.
Son of man, raise up lamentations upon Pharaoh king of Egypt and say unto him, Thou art like a young lion of the nations, and thou art as the whale in the seas, that dost dry up thy rivers, and trouble the waters with thy feet, and foul their streams.
and I rejected Esau and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.
And there appeared another sign in the heaven; and, behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.
Morish
tannin, ??????. It may signify any great serpent or sea monster, symbolical of a huge destructive creature. Nations doomed to destruction and desolation, including Jerusalem, are said to become habitations of dragons. Isa 34:13; 35:7; Jer 9:11; 10:22; 51:37. Pharaoh, king of Egypt, is called the great dragon. Eze 29:3. As one of God's creatures the dragon is called upon to praise Jehovah. Ps 148:7. In the N.T. the dragon is a type of Satan and those energised by him. In Re 12:3 the "great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns," is symbolical of Satan's power in the form of the Roman empire: it endeavoured, in the person of Herod, to destroy Christ when born. In Re 13:2,4 it is Satan who gives the resuscitated Roman empire in a future day its throne and great authority. In Re 13:11 the Antichrist, who has two horns like a lamb, speaks as a dragon. In Re 16:13 it is Satan, and in Re 20:2 he is described as "that old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan."
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Praise the LORD from the earth, ye dragons and all deeps,
And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof; and it shall be a habitation of dragons and a court for young owls.
The parched ground shall become a pool and the thirsty land springs of water; in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes.
And I will make Jerusalem heaps and a den of dragons; and I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant.
Behold, the voice of the rumour is come, and a great commotion out of the land of the north wind to make the cities of Judah desolate and a den of dragons.
And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwellingplace for dragons, an astonishment, and a hissing, without an inhabitant.
Speak and say, Thus hath the Lord GOD said: Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lies in the midst of his rivers, who has said, My river is my own, and I have made it for myself.
And there appeared another sign in the heaven; and, behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.
And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and its feet were as the feet of a bear, and its mouth as the mouth of a lion; and the dragon gave it his power and his throne and great authority.
And they worshipped the dragon which had given the authority unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast; saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with it?
Then I beheld another beast coming up out of the land; and he had two horns like the Lamb, but he spoke as the dragon.
And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet.
And he laid hold on the dragon, the serpent of old, which is the Devil and Satan and bound him a thousand years
Smith
Dragon.
The translators of the Authorized Version, apparently following the Vulgate, have rendered by the same word "dragon" the two Hebrew words tan and tannin, which appear to be quite distinct in meaning.
1. The former is used, always in the plural, in
Job 30:29; Ps 44:19; Isa 34:13; 43:20; Jer 9:11
It is always applied to some creatures inhabiting the desert, and we should conclude from this that it refers rather to some wild beast than to a serpent. The syriac renders it by a word which, according to Pococke, means a "jackal."
2. The word tannin seems to refer to any great monster, whether of the land or the sea, being indeed more usually applied to some kind of serpent or reptile, but not exclusively restricted to that sense.
Ex 7:9-10,12; De 32:33; Ps 91:13
In the New Testament it is found only in the Apocalypse,
etc., as applied metaphorically to "the old serpent, called the devil, and Satan."
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If Pharaoh shall answer you, saying, Show a miracle, then thou shalt say unto Aaron, Take thy rod and cast it before Pharaoh, that it shall become a dragon. So Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and they did as the LORD had commanded; and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and before his slaves, and it became a dragon.
For each one cast down his rod, and they became dragons; but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods.
though thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons and covered us with the shadow of death.
Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder; the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.
And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof; and it shall be a habitation of dragons and a court for young owls.
The beast of the field shall honour me, the dragons and the owls because I give waters in the wilderness and rivers in the desert to give drink to my people, my chosen.
And I will make Jerusalem heaps and a den of dragons; and I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant.
And there appeared another sign in the heaven; and, behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth; and the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to be delivered, to devour her child as soon as it was born.
And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,
And the great dragon was cast out, the serpent of old, who is called Devil and the Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed up the river which the dragon had cast out of his mouth. And the dragon was wroth with the woman and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Watsons
DRAGON. This word is frequently to be met with in our English translation of the Bible. It answers generally to the Hebrew ??, ????, ????; and these words are variously rendered dragons, serpents, sea- monsters, and whales. The Rev. James Hurdis, in a dissertation relative to this subject, observes, that the word translated "whales," in Ge 1:21, occurs twenty-seven times in Scripture; and he attempts, with much ingenuity, to prove that it every where signifies the crocodile. That it sometimes has this meaning, he thinks is clear from Eze 29:3: "Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers." For, to what could a king of Egypt be more properly compared than the crocodile? The same argument he draws from Isa 51:9: "Art thou not he that hath cut Rahab, [Egypt,] and wounded the dragon?" Among the ancients the crocodile was the symbol of Egypt, and appears so on Roman coins. Some however have thought the hippopotamus intended; others, one of the larger species of serpents.
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And God created the great dragons and every living soul that moves, which the waters brought forth abundantly after their nature, and every winged fowl after its nature; and God saw that it was good.
Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD; awake, as in the ancient days, in ages past. Art thou not he who cut off the proud one, and he who smote the dragon?